2015 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 467-474
The objective of this study was to propose a stratification control method for the minimum air flow of a variable air volume (VAV) terminal unit. The minimum air flow rate of the VAV terminal unit is the key factor affecting thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), stratification and energy consumption depending on the operating mode of the VAV system. Therefore, selecting the proper minimum air flow is very important. In this study, a building simulation was conducted to evaluate the indoor thermal comfort, stratification, IAQ and energy consumption according to the fixed minimum air flow rate of the VAV terminal units. In addition, an algorithm was proposed considering the stratification and variable minimum air flow rate depending on the indoor load. The results of the fixed minimum air flow rate simulation showed that the minimum air flow rate considering stratification satisfies all the conditions of indoor thermal comfort, IAQ and without stratification. The proposed method was found to be more effective than the existing control method. The energy comparison with the existing control method showed that the proposed method reduces the energy consumption.
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